Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 30, 2014

Many startups now go through accelerators and have mentors passing through each day with advice – usually it’s conflicting. There are bootcamps, startup classes, video interviews – the sources are now endless. Because I’ve asked more than 100 VCs similar questions I start to notice patterns in thinking.

Startup 407

Startup Framework CTO Coach Sales 407

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 8, 2009

This is part of my ongoing series called “ Start-up Lessons.&#. I came across this blog post about getting a computer science degree as the best degree for getting into venture capital or working at a VC-backed start up. I paid up for the diploma but can’t say that I saw better results. So back to MBAs.

Startup 337

Startup Venture Capital Study Course 337

TechEmpower

NOVEMBER 16, 2016

Round 13 of the ongoing Web Framework Benchmarks project is here! The project now features 230 framework implementations (of our JSON serialization test) and includes new entrants on platforms as diverse as Kotlin and Qt. Yes, that Qt. What a great time to be building web apps! Good fortunes. Many fixes to long-broken tests.

Framework 80

Framework Web Platform Web Development 80

SoCal CTO

MARCH 28, 2013

In Web Framework Benchmarks , there are some very interesting and surprising numbers around the performance of various web frameworks. Startup Founders really need to see these numbers. In some ways, this frees us from worrying as much about the specific framework that's being used.

Framework 175

Framework Web PHP EC2 175

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 8, 2010

Most technology startups seem to be founded by three types of people: product managers, engineers or biz dev types (MBAs and the like). Very few of them are started, in my experience, by sales people and very few early stage companies really understand sales. Here’s mine: Let me start with a few biases. Enough said.

Startup 350

Startup Sales Framework Organization 350

SoCal CTO

SEPTEMBER 14, 2011

The conversation centered around a founder who's key question is "Where Do I Find a Developer for My Startup?" The situation is pretty common it got us to riff a bit around how to get programmers to help him build out a proof-of-concept version for his startup. Or ask me Free Startup CTO Consulting Sessions.

Guide 349

Guide Startup Mobile Framework 349

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 13, 2013

Like most startup entrepreneurs, when I began my first company in 1999 I had no formal sales experience. This is a very important to do when you first start a company. I’m going to set up the framework today and in future posts I’ll drill down into each area. This article originally appeared on Inc.com. Compelling Event.

Sales 393

Sales Startup Resource Customer 393

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 28, 2010

I grew up in the US but lived in England for so long I can never remember from which country my slang comes. But then I started to see it happening internally. I mean Porter’s Five forces is a useful framework but it’s basically microeconomics with a pretty wrapper. Unsurprisingly, this one way best.

Startup 378

Startup Framework Slides Coach 378

SoCal CTO

DECEMBER 10, 2012

It was like having a bunch of mini- Free Startup CTO Consulting Sessions all in one room. This is exactly the kind of thing I'm doing as a Part-Time CTO or Technical Advisor for startups. And it made me come to a new realization: Every early-stage web/mobile/online startup should have at least one technical advisor, probably two.

Technical Advisors 332

Technical Advisors CTO Coach Technical Review CTO Hire 332

TechEmpower

AUGUST 14, 2023

Startup founders make decisions on a daily basis – significant decisions that will have lasting impact on their business. Actually, many startups need two kinds of technical advisors. We’ve talked about this before in Startup CTO or Developer. No good innovator turns down advice! And Maybe You Need Two!

Technical Review 260

Technical Review CTO Coach CTO Hire Software Review 260

SoCal CTO

SEPTEMBER 14, 2011

The conversation centered around a founder who's key question is "Where Do I Find a Developer for My Startup?" The situation is pretty common it got us to riff a bit around how to get programmers to help him build out a proof-of-concept version for his startup. Or ask me Free Startup CTO Consulting Sessions.

Guide 296

Guide Startup Mobile Framework 296

InfoChachkie

SEPTEMBER 15, 2011

Under the heading, “The Book On Bezos,” the callout lists ten actionable and impactful nuggets of startup advice. We don’t give up on things easily. We didn’t give up.”. “ If you’re not stubborn, you’ll give up on experiments too soon. We are stubborn on vision. We are flexible on details…. The Two Pizza Rule.

Tips 279

Tips Startup Framework Customer 279

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 13, 2010

For the first 5 years of my career I was a “bottom up&# thinker and worker. I know it might sound a bit esoteric so let me explain: I started my career as a programmer. I started by doing billing systems. This is bottom-up planning. He coached me that I had to start with the answers.

Entrepreneur 372

Entrepreneur Startup Design Framework 372

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 4, 2010

Let me start with Professor Christensen’s definition: “An innovation that is disruptive allows a whole new population of consumers access to a product or service that was historically only accessible to consumers with a lot of money or a lot of skill.&#. Let’s start with the incumbents position in a market.

Startup 376

Startup Framework Marketing Customer 376

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 12, 2010

On every project in which we worked it was clear that there was corporate knowledge built up around the organization. I started telling them, “I’m a tourist in your company. Tags: Startup Advice. Such is leadership. And I learned the skills in my days as a consultant.

Help 288

Help Startup Venture Capital Framework 288

SoCal CTO

JANUARY 26, 2010

In December 2007, I described how I commonly take on an Acting CTO Role in a Start-up. However, I’ve now begun questioning how and what an early-stage / startup CTO should be. What worries me a bit is how often I read that startups should hire a developer / hands-on lead developer. Gap closed, right? Probably not.

Fractional CTO 225

Fractional CTO CTO CTO Hire CTO Coach 225

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 3, 2020

I share her view of the ten key elements of the basic framework and vocabulary of open information sharing and open decision making: Explaining: creating buy-in. This process works well in today’s extremely flat and non-hierarchical startup organizations. Common platforms enable open data access at any level. Centralized. Democratic.

Framework 159

Framework Social Media Software Review Social Network 159

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 9, 2022

Most startups, and many big businesses, still don’t have a clue on how to use social media productively for marketing their business. The next thing that entrepreneurs need to realize is that the process and framework for making social media marketing work are different from traditional marketing, and trial and error certainly doesn’t work.

Social Media 135

Social Media Framework Media Metrics 135

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 19, 2019

Startups that are backed by professional financial investors almost always have a Board of Directors that consists of some set of founders, investors and sometimes independent directors. It is worth pointing out that there are actually three levels of governance in venture-backed startups. This is often called “corporate governance”?—?in

Startup 204

Startup Writing Framework Summary 204

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 17, 2011

This applies equally to VCs, startups & big company executives. When I need to give a speech and I’m writing a slide for my deck, I think up the story in my mind that I’m going to tell for this slide. It’s ironic because I believe creativity is the most important success criterion for a startup.

Writing 356

Writing Startup Ideas Summary 356

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 28, 2020

In my view, starting a new business has never been easier, and according to reports from the Kauffman Foundation , the numbers are here to show it. Who would not want to join the unicorns (recent startups with a current valuation of over $1 billion)? Establishing your brand with interactive social media.

Tips 161

Tips Startup Social Media News 161

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 3, 2009

The topic of &# strategic&# investors came up. So I thought I’d try to lay out a framework for how you should think about it as many you will inevitably be faced with this experience. They’ll pay up for it and promise much. As a VC I need to get buy-in from my partners when tough stuff comes up.

Venture Capital 279

Venture Capital Startup Entrepreneur Framework 279

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 12, 2014

If you’re a technology startup you need to excel at product, of course. The starting point of product IS marketing, which is what a lot of young entrepreneurs that never studied business don’t realize. The start of marketing is figuring out a market need and a way to solve that need better than anybody else.

Marketing 379

Marketing Startup SEM SEO 379

TechCrunch LA

JUNE 9, 2021

Even as NFT sales dip below their most speculative highs, startups aiming to tap into their potential are still scoring big funding rounds from investors who believe there’s much more to crypto collectibles than the past few months of hype. The startup has raised a whopping $120 million to date. The round was led by WestCap.

Platform 308

Platform Framework Los Angeles Design 308

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 17, 2011

I thought I’d try to offer a framework for thinking about the topic. This conversation seems to come up very frequently these days both with portfolio companies and with entrepreneurs just looking for mentorship. So here’s my framework. In some circumstances this is now stretching up to $2 million.

Help 303

Help Startup Competition Framework 303

socalTECH

AUGUST 8, 2012

Realtime , a startup developing technology to help power real-time web applications, said today that it has raised $100M, launched in the U.S., and opened up a new office in Santa Monica. Realtime also opened up a New York office, in addition to existing offices in Sao Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, London, Madrid, and Lisbon.

Santa Monica 214

Santa Monica PHP HTML JavaScript 214

socalTECH

NOVEMBER 8, 2012

We spoke with founder and CEO Samantha Lurey on how her startup is trying to make travel with kids--and eventually, adults--more fun, by providing location-based applications which provide curious travel facts, customizable postcards, and more on different destinations. I ended up hunting and pecking through to find the right information.

Guide 232

Guide Framework Mobile Startup 232

TechEmpower

FEBRUARY 10, 2016

We’ve heard this from startup founders, product managers, development team leads, CTOs, and others who see their product gaining traction, but simultaneously see performance falling off a cliff. Too often though, it’s the result of performance needs not being properly assessed at the start of work. Framework Benchmarks.

Web 200

Web Technical Advisors Framework Technical Review 200

SoCal CTO

APRIL 28, 2014

So I promised that I would provide a follow-up after the session. This is that follow-up and hopefully it’s useful to people outside of the session as well. Challenges I started by asking the founders in the room to tell me some of the challenges they have working with developers. Have they considered everything?

Develop 280

Develop Development CTO Coach CTO Hire 280

socalTECH

APRIL 26, 2011

Los Angeles area entrepreneurs, investors, and startups have gotten to know Paige Craig fairly well over the last few years, as he's made many investments in the local ecosystem. What drove you move from investing to starting up BetterWorks? I know you've talked about this before, but how did you end up in Los Angeles?

Startup 216

Startup Technical Review Software Review Platform 216

SoCal Tech Calendar

AUGUST 17, 2012

Thursday, August 23, 2012 -- Startup Business Development. ll also discuss types of partnerships, as well as provide a framework for evaluating them.Later we?ll Coloft Academy. Are you a Founder and want to learn more about growing your venture via partnerships and alliances? ll outline characteristics of a great Business Developer ?

Develop 113

Develop Development Startup Framework 113

SoCal CTO

JULY 19, 2016

I’ve had lots of conversations with fellow CTOs about the TechEmpower Web Framework Benchmarks. Some really appreciate the value that they bring to help them understand performance characteristics of different frameworks. ASP.NET Core is now available, and you can start using it today by downloading it here.

TechEmpower 150

TechEmpower Framework Startup Web 150

SoCal CTO

FEBRUARY 13, 2013

I promised to do this post as a follow-up to the session to provide additional links and information. The real reason to build an MVP is to do early tests of key Startup Metrics for the business. We end up using WordPress a lot as the marketing front-end of our web sites. It had a passionate group of 50 people attending.

Technical Review 338

Technical Review CTO Hire CTO Coach Software Review 338

SoCal CTO

APRIL 2, 2013

What's Going to Go Wrong A lot of founders don't really understand Lean Startup principles. They look at the following high level definition of Lean: and they interpret that as write up an executive summary with your ideas and hand it to developers to build. Do you have a Technical Advisors: Every Web/Mobile Startup Must Have One ?

CTO Coach 219

CTO Coach Metrics Framework Software Development 219

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 4, 2020

If you are seriously looking to start the next billion-dollar startup, you need to get beyond the realm of enhancing a current solution. But we all know that these are not solutions by themselves, but require integration into an innovative framework to solve real customer problems. Be forever curious and optimistic.

Startup 134

Startup Artificial Inteligence Ideas Entrepreneur 134

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 24, 2020

Porter proposed his Five Forces framework for analyzing the competitive environment which I think makes even more sense today. Every existing business, as well as every startup, needs to reassess their product or service in the context of these five forces: Intensity of competitive rivalry. Way back in 1979, Michael E.

Competition 151

Competition Startup Framework Pricing 151

TechCrunch LA

APRIL 9, 2020

Under the terms of the development agreement, wannabe app creators get their application for free as long as they sign up for the monthly hosting service. Builds of the apps will be delivered around 60 days upon signing up,” said V One founder, Jeremy Redman. “I had an app idea but no real idea how to executive it.

Mobile 250

Mobile Develop Development Artificial Inteligence 250